This article reminds me of the Seinfield episode where Jerrys friends are expecting and George tells them that, if he ever has a son, he's going to name him Seven after the number on some baseball players jersey. The woman goes into labor and they name their son Seven and George is furious.
I can see somebody being angry in a situation like this, where it's a very unusual or unique name that is clearly being stolen. If I told someone that I wanted to use the name Briar for a girl or Leonidas for a boy, and that person ended up with a baby name Leonidas, well, that's clear namenapping. Or if it's a "normal" first name/middle name combination that has been taken, like Paul Michael or Alyssa Riley. I would get upset too. In both instances, the other person has permanently ruined the name for you. It would be just about impossible to use those names on your own child.
I don't see any problem with using a "common" name that somebody else has. There are a million Aidens, Makaylas, Jessicas, ect... A good example is the woman who wants to use the name Sophia. How could you be angry that someone "stole" your name when it was at the top 100 for its year? To me, that's silly. A popular name is just popular, you can't control that and it's unfair to ask everyone you know to not use a popular name just because you already used it or had it in mind. My 11 year old sister is Eva Marie. My 5 month old niece is Amara Marie, and my stepsister (granted, is only 17, almost 18) has several friends who have used parts of her daughters name. She's not angry about it, she just understands that Marie has always been a popular middle name and is a very flexible middle name.
As for the calling dibs thing, well, I could see this happening if you have several friends who are all pregnant at the same time. The group of wives I'm friends with on base, we have 3 pregnant and one who just gave birth. So I can understand the need to lay claim to a name or two. But I think it's ridiculous that a single, not pregnant woman would try to keep a pregnant friend or family member from using a name. If that ever happened to me, I'd politely tell the person that I don't really give a sh*t and do it anyway.
There's my 2 cents, if anyone care to know. My husband and I are thinking about trying for a baby in a few months, before his deployment, and I'm already excited!

4 years

I'm currently 5 months along with my first, and we picked two names up front: Wren for a girl, Russ for a boy. There were reasons we chose the names, from both simple preference motivations, to family meanings. A good friend of mine threw a semi-kidding fit about the girl name because she said she had "dibs" on it. She was kidding, but only half kidding - and she's neither married nor even dating! I had no clue she had "dibs" on a name since my friends and I don't really discuss that stuff very often. Anyhow, if we have a daughter in the future, her name will be Wren and my friends (and whoever else may take exception) will just have to deal with it! Calling "dibs" on names is a silly practice...pick a name that means something to you and go with it. If two people can manage to agree on one name, that's enough of a battle right there.

4 years

My family is a big family with lots of various cousins and so forth and we have ended up with 3 Steves, 3 Rogers, 2 Matthews and 3 Daniels and 2 Erins between both sides of the family. We also had 2 Jacks but they were my grandfather and uncle (my grandfather has since passed away.) The Rogers, Matts, Erins and 2 of the Dannys are on 1 side of the family and no matter what there are always 2 Steves around (one is my father and one is a cousin's husband.) The Rogers have all married into the family, which I find kind of strange as they're all different generations.
Now that my sister, cousins and I have gotten to the age where we're starting to have kids the name situations had gotten interesting. I have wanted to use the name Eire Elizabeth for probably the last 10 years for my daughter. Elizabeth was my dad's mom who died when I was a baby and I know that Eire is a unique name so I wanted to give a sense of balance. I had a cousin name her daughter Alexandra Elizabeth (we call her Alyebeth) but I don't mind having the same middle name (we're both honoring the same grandmother.) However, I think that naming a child the same name as another cousin in the same age range just leads to confusion.
Trust me with the amount of name repeating going on in my family, just by shear coincidence, you always have to clarify which person you're talking about. It definitely makes sense to just check out the situation with family to see where they're coming from so to be prepared for any upsets if they're going to happen.

I'm still going to name my daughter Sophia when I have her. I don't care that my cousin's middle name is Sophia. She is 10 months. My cousin won't care and neither will her little girl. If my other cousin cares that I "took" the name Sophia that is her problem. She didn't want a baby, got pregnant accidentally, complained about it, dropped out of school, and is happy, but still complains about what she could have done. I want a baby and my baby shall not be a result of an accident with someone I wanted to get away from. I'm not going to change my future child's name to fit her selfish needs.

I wouldn't ask someone if I could use their name...I'd just use it. So what if two kids have the same name? It happens everywhere now (my daughter's day care has 3 Madisons, 2 Aidens *shudder* and 3 Makaylas *big shudder*).

I had chosen the middle name Rose for my daughter, YEARS before we had her. I wasnt one of those that had 50 million names picked out, i just absolutely wanted the middle name to be Rose. It was in dedication to my mother, whos favorite name is rose. I told my best friend of over 5 years, and not a year later she got pregnant and had a daughter. She gave her the middle name Rose! I was REALLY angry, the name was sentimental to me and she knew beforehand. As best friends do, we often dished about the future and our kids names, etc. She never asked me or referred to it. When I got pregnant with my daughter last march, when we were talking about names, I started to say that I had wanted to name her Kairi Rose.., and without letting me finish, she exclaimed, Oh it would be so neat if your daughter shared Fyora's (her daughter) middle name! Ugh! I was instantly irritated and didnt choose the name. We will probably be friends for years and years to come, and I know myself enough to know that if i chose Rose and had to listen to her for the next 10 years go on about how great she thinks it is that I "shared" her daughters name, Id absolutely blow up one day. I ended up going with Kairi Ann. Ann is my mother's, mother in laws, and my middle name.

I had chosen the middle name Rose for my daughter, YEARS before we had her. I wasnt one of those that had 50 million names picked out, i just absolutely wanted the middle name to be Rose. It was in dedication to my mother, whos favorite name is rose. I told my best friend of over 5 years, and not a year later she got pregnant and had a daughter. She gave her the middle name Rose! I was REALLY angry, the name was sentimental to me and she knew beforehand. As best friends do, we often dished about the future and our kids names, etc. She never asked me or referred to it. When I got pregnant with my daughter last march, when we were talking about names, I started to say that I had wanted to name her Kairi Rose.., and without letting me finish, she exclaimed, Oh it would be so neat if your daughter shared Fyora's (her daughter) middle name! Ugh! I was instantly irritated and didnt choose the name. We will probably be friends for years and years to come, and I know myself enough to know that if i chose Rose and had to listen to her for the next 10 years go on about how great she thinks it is that I "shared" her daughters name, Id absolutely blow up one day.
I ended up going with Kairi Ann. Ann is my mother's, mother in laws, and my middle name.

i have had 2 names picked out since i was 18. now, 10 years later the only person who has heard them is my husband. i really love the names (obviously) and would be crushed if someone else used them. thats why i am keeping my mouth closed until the little one makes his/her debut!

I know what I would like to name my children but I don't talk about it. I am nowhere near that phase. When my little sister was born my mother wanted to name her Jacquelynne to continue the J tradition. It would have been James, Jessy & Jack. My aunt threw a fit because she wanted to name her future daughter (she had 2 sons) that and in order to end a bitter fight my mother chosen another name. My little sister is Abigayle and my aunt never had another child.

I tend to think this is all silly and people should name their children a name they like. It's hard for two people to agree on a name for their child for the rest of his/her life! I don't think you can have "dibs" on a name. Especially before you're married - or until you're pregnant.That said, I would try to be respectful of someone's family situation if the name wasn't super-important to me. E.g. not naming after a SIL's dead mother or something. Or not using a Jr. name without asking. I considered naming our boy the same middle name as my nephew's and I asked my SIL what she thought. She said she thought it would be great. That said, it wasn't a super important issue for me - I didn't have to have that name. But sometimes, there's truly only one name you and your spouse both love for your child.

I tend to think this is all silly and people should name their children a name they like. It's hard for two people to agree on a name for their child for the rest of his/her life! I don't think you can have "dibs" on a name. Especially before you're married - or until you're pregnant.
That said, I would try to be respectful of someone's family situation if the name wasn't super-important to me. E.g. not naming after a SIL's dead mother or something. Or not using a Jr. name without asking. I considered naming our boy the same middle name as my nephew's and I asked my SIL what she thought. She said she thought it would be great. That said, it wasn't a super important issue for me - I didn't have to have that name. But sometimes, there's truly only one name you and your spouse both love for your child.

I agree, skigurl.
My DH is 4th in a line of Jameses. Before we even got pregnant with our first (though we were dating and engaged) my SIL took it upon herself to name her 3rd boy James. She didn't even ask my husband if he had wanted to use it!! If we have a boy, I just can't bring myself to use James with him- when one of his cousins also has the name.
At the same time, the name we chose for our DD is the same as the grandmother of my BFF (and which, of course, she wants to use herself.) I wish I had been told beforehand.

I agree, skigurl.My DH is 4th in a line of Jameses. Before we even got pregnant with our first (though we were dating and engaged) my SIL took it upon herself to name her 3rd boy James. She didn't even ask my husband if he had wanted to use it!! If we have a boy, I just can't bring myself to use James with him- when one of his cousins also has the name. At the same time, the name we chose for our DD is the same as the grandmother of my BFF (and which, of course, she wants to use herself.) I wish I had been told beforehand.

I've had the name Sophia since I was 7, but I guess not everyone knew or took it seriously. I'm still going to name my daughter Sophia even though my cousin's middle name is Sophia and my other cousin's name is Sophia. Oh well. I had the name first.

two years after my sister was born, my aunt gave my cousin the same middle name as my mom had given my sister...my mom found it really weird that she did it and didn't ask or even bring it up and discuss how ideal she thought the name was....now my cousin and sister are best friends, so they're happy about it, but it's still a weird spot for my parents...i just don't get why you wouldn't pick a different name?i also know a family who named their son the same first name as his cousin, about 4 years after the first boy was born. so now these two cousins have the same first name. how weird. i just don't get why you would do that.

two years after my sister was born, my aunt gave my cousin the same middle name as my mom had given my sister...my mom found it really weird that she did it and didn't ask or even bring it up and discuss how ideal she thought the name was....now my cousin and sister are best friends, so they're happy about it, but it's still a weird spot for my parents...i just don't get why you wouldn't pick a different name?
i also know a family who named their son the same first name as his cousin, about 4 years after the first boy was born. so now these two cousins have the same first name. how weird. i just don't get why you would do that.